Energy monitoring plug has just arrived - now what?

caveman38

tpeppers said:

I have thought about getting one of these, but figured it might not actually be that helpful. For example, I'd be interested to know how much it costs to run the fridge, but what would I do with that information? It's not like I could use the fridge differently.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has actually benefitted from using these smart plugs (I have heard about the energy consumption of some microwaves on standby, for example) - then I might take the plunge. Especially since I already have a smart meter which gives pretty good readings for how much running the kettle or oven costs, for example. 

True. But if like me you found out that a simple larder freezer (43 years old) used 2.2kW a day then you may wish to install qa new one that may only use 1kW a day.

uksitebuilder

The Watt app does seem a little better than the Tapo app and picks up all your plugs etc that you have already set-up nicely.

Alas there is no reset statistics functionality

macman

jvjack said:

They will make little behaviour changes.
Just tested my tapo on dishwasher. Was 1.2 kw for the wash. So lets say 60 pence in october to do that wash.
I could very easily have left it for 3/4 days and filled it up more. 
Edit: Thinking now i could swill a fey items instead  leaving more room in the dishwasher. So instead of 2 washes a week only one. Saving 60p a week.

1.2kW is what it's drawing at one point, not the total usage for the cycle. Do you mean it used 1.2kWh for the whole cycle?
As you say, about 62p if on SVT.

jvjack

yes. Whole cycle. Old Bosch slimline. Eco 65 degrees setting.
Then in standby for the day just shows nothing in graph and says less than 0.1kw.

[Deleted User]

dunstonh said:

I have 3 of the P110s and have another 4 on the way whilst they are on special price at Amazon.

Don't forget to deduct £50 per year from your savings to cover the cost of running 7x P110s. And the £70 upfront cost, so £120 in the first year.

dunstonh

Deleted_User said:

dunstonh said:

I have 3 of the P110s and have another 4 on the way whilst they are on special price at Amazon.

Don't forget to deduct £50 per year from your savings to cover the cost of running 7x P110s. And the £70 upfront cost, so £120 in the first year.

They have been instrumental in getting me down from 18.x kWh per day to a new low of 8.93 kWh yesterday.  So, more than paid for themselves. 

Most of them are for sockets that cannot be reached easily.   A couple will be passed onto family.

Correction edit:

Tapos use 1.2w-1.6w when the item that is plugged in is running (relay on).   They use less than 1w when they are in standby mode (relay off)

1w for 365 days a year is £4.56 a year per smart plug at  52p per kWh

macman

jvjack said:

yes. Whole cycle. Old Bosch slimline. Eco 65 degrees setting.
Then in standby for the day just shows nothing in graph and says less than 0.1kw.

It shouldn't be using anything at the end of the cycle, it should shut down completely. If it's drawing 0.1kW (100W) on standby then it's using 2.4kWh every day.

jvjack

i see yes it does show in 'current power' 0.0w. In 'consumption past 30 days it shows 1.2kw for that wasing day.
Then next 3 days still in standby less than symbol followed by 0.1kw

Ally_E.

tpeppers said:

I have thought about getting one of these, but figured it might not actually be that helpful. For example, I'd be interested to know how much it costs to run the fridge, but what would I do with that information? It's not like I could use the fridge differently.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has actually benefitted from using these smart plugs (I have heard about the energy consumption of some microwaves on standby, for example) - then I might take the plunge. Especially since I already have a smart meter which gives pretty good readings for how much running the kettle or oven costs, for example. 

Someone on here discovered their fridge was using 2.5 times more energy than it should have, which meant it was broken and not efficient to run. They were able to calculate that buying a new fridge freezer would be more cost effective than keeping the old one. This is where energy monitors like tapo come into their own.

It also helped me identify that I'm wasting electricity in way I use my TV and I was able to adjust my habits to reduce energy use. Still testing other devices around the house, husband's gaming PC is next and maybe we can identify ways to reduce energy use for it too. 

kuratowski

tux900 said:

If you've got an Apple device then I'd recommend installing the free 'Watt' app which can interrogate the Tado smart plugs. It's a better app than TP-Link's own in many ways, one of which is real-time (well, automatically updating every 10s) power readings. You can also enter the price per kWh so it'll give its statistical output, annual extrapolations etc in pounds and pence too.

Thanks so much for this recommendation!